The payouts, under the Golden Sun program, are the second
round announced this year, the Ministry of Science and
Technology said in a statement on its website. Generators in
Jiangsu, a coastal province in eastern China, will gain the most
from the aid as 374 megawatts of capacity, including
developments by China’s biggest module maker by market value
Hareon Solar Technology Co., will be located there.

The government may pay at least 15.4 billion yuan ($2.5
billion) for the projects if they are completed by the end of
June 2013, according to Wang Xiaoting, a solar analyst at
Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Beijing.

China began offering financial assistance for projects
under the Golden Sun program in 2009. The nation is increasing
assistance as solar-energy manufactures suffer from slowing
demand and declining profit.

The total capacity chosen in 2012, including 1.7 gigawatts
selected in the first round, is seven times more than previous
years, said Lian Rui, a Beijing-based analyst at research
company NPD Solarbuzz.

“China uses the program to offer cash sooner to
developers, rather than preferential power prices, to boost
installations,” Lian said.